From the Offices of Elliot Joseph and Jeffry Nestler, MDJune 13, 2010 Edition

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"Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be." - John Wooden, 1910-2010

Medical Staff Semi-Annual Meeting, June 17

The Medical Staff Semi-Annual meeting will be 7 a.m., Thursday, June 17, in Gilman Auditorium in the Conklin Building. This year’s session includes Ask the Administration – a panel discussion.

Helping Physicians Track Their Patients in the ED

Primary care physicians are now alerted by fax when their patients are seen in the Emergency Department, followed by a copy of the “face sheet” which includes the reason for the ED visit, treatment provided, medications and discharge instructions. With the planned installation of Allscripts™ this summer, the current hand-written “face sheet” will be replaced by a more legible, typed report. This new service is in addition to the notices regarding inpatient admissions and discharges that have been faxed to primary care physicians for more than two years. Questions may be directed to Luisa Machado in Physician Relations at 850-545-1891 or lmachad@harthosp.org.

Hamilton Retreat

The topic for this year's Hamilton Retreat (May 20-21) was Clinical Integration. Elliot Joseph described the imperatives for healthcare change and reviewed HHC’s strategic goals. Dr. Thomas Lee, Network President for Partners in Massachusetts gave the keynote address entitled "Physicians and Transformative Leadership." The following morning, Dr. Lee Sacks addressed the group on "Clinical Integration: Aligning Physicians to Drive Outcomes." The participants discussed strategies to achieve clinical integration including information technology, electronic health records, quality programs, chronic disease management and approaches to complexity in health care.

Financial Update

The Hospital's inpatient discharges were 1.7% below budget in the month of May and 1.3% below May of the prior year. In spite of the lower than anticipated volume in May, through eight months for this fiscal year discharges are approximately .7% greater than planned and 1.2% greater than the first eight months of the prior fiscal year.

Balanced Scorecard Retreat

Administrators and physician leaders met on Thursday and Friday, June 10-11, in Old Saybrook to work on the hospital’s top priorities for 2011 and to create Hartford Hospital’s Balanced Scorecard for next year. A brief synopsis of this important, two-day meeting will be included in the next Seymour Street Journal.

ERC Building: On Monday, June 14, the bridge connecting the ERC and the Ingalls Buildings as well as the bridge connecting the ERC and Barney Buildings will be closed so that work can proceed on the Center for Education, Simulation and Innovation. During these temporary closures, please use outdoor routes to travel between these buildings. In addition, the south and west corridors on ERC 2 will be closed, as well as a portion of the east corridor on that floor. Access to the Robinson Library from ERC 2 will be routed through the northeast stairwell. These closures are expected to last through late summer.

Conklin Building: Construction on the Conklin lobby will begin Monday, June 21. The front entrance, sidewalk and dropoff area will be closed. Look for future announcements on alternate routes into the building.

Cafeteria: Construction on the dining room will begin Monday, June 21. The cafeteria and dining room will remain open throughout the entire project. Work within the dining room will be performed in phases.

Bliss 9: The Bliss connector will be closed from Friday, June 18 - Wednesday, June 23. Use the Bliss elevators to access Bliss 9. The new ICUs on Bliss 9 are nearing completion.

Bliss 11: The Bliss connector will be closed from Friday, June 25 - Wednesday, June 30. Use the Bliss elevators to access Bliss 11. The new ICUs on Bliss 11 are nearing completion.

Hartford Hospital will host an international Renal and Prostate Robotic Symposium on June 25 which will showcase new videoconferencing technology that is being installed Hartford Hospital and also will be installed at MidState Medical Center and Windham Hospital. Urologists, surgical assistants and OR staff interested in robotic renal and pelvic surgery can register online or call Hartford Hospital’s Health Referral Service at 860-545-1888 (toll free at 800-545-7664). Questions can be directed to Val Riccio at 860-545-5816 or vriccio@harthosp.org.

Researchers from Hartford Hospital and the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine assessed the simulated driving performance of 50 male and 35 female subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Understandably, the study received wide media attention.

Tuesday, June 15, is the go-live for Phase II of SCM Electronic Clinical Documentation. The KBC module incorporates care planning, assessments, patient education and goals/outcomes by Nursing and Ancillary Departments for an interdisciplinary approach to patient documentation.

The Seymour Street Journal (SSJ) has been developed to communicate key messages pertinent to our hospital’s physicians. It will keep you informed and up-to-date on hospital, network, and health care news in a concise, convenient format. The SSJ will be sent to your preferred e-mail address every other Sunday. Back issues can be viewed here. For any questions or suggestions, please contact Dr. Jeffry Nestler, Medical Staff President, at (860) 836-7313.